History

As our feature on shows, the XJ-S could be turned into more of a sports car, although it wasn’t a natural racing car due to its size and weight. That didn’t stop Bob Tullius and his Group 44 team from campaigning the car in the late Seventies, with considerable success.

Think the Alfa Romeo SZ ‘MOSTRO’ was ugly? Castagna’s similarly conceived Vittoria took things to a whole new level

Drives-Today takes a tour of a Polish city in what was once Germany, and uncovers the history of the forgotten marque of Stoewer that called it home

The boss of BMW M, Markus Flasch, refers to them as ‘submarine projects’; namely the sort of after-hours labours of love that created cars like the E86 Z3 M Coupe

Crafty competition plans resulted in the wickedly fast and noisy SLR 722 GT – but sadly not a suitably evocative race series, as James Page discovers

He was called ‘The King of Stop and Go’, although, to be chronologically precise, he should have been the ‘King of Go and Stop’ – his ‘go’ invention preceding the ‘stop’. Vincent Bendix’s whole life seemed to evolve on a stop-and-go basis. He was a big man, bighearted and a big spender. He made a fortune, spent a fortune and was no stranger to bankruptcy, divorce and ill-judged investments.

It may have arrived to a cool reception, but this Merc’s appeal is timeless

A quirky outlier that managed to find a mainstream audience, and justified Citroen’s existence to its new masters

Made by Standard-Triumph, just the Triumph name was used for automobiles and the company is better known for its sportscars such as the TR2, 3 and 4

As the UK prepared to join the European Common Market, CAR took aim at the rip-off car prices that were about to be exposed.

The cars we drive today were influenced by these pioneers First-map-based navigation system

Max Mosley’s Lotus Elite Driving the late motorsport maven’s first love. This Lotus Elite was bought new by the late one-time FIA president Max Mosley – and Octane played a small role in reuniting him with his first motoring love, six years ago.

This Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing belonged to none other than film legend Sophia Loren. Massimo Delbò delves into its stellar history

Profile of Italy’s little-known design genius. Shy and modest but brilliantly talented, Federico Formenti was Touring’s golden child. We tell the story of one of the world’s greatest car designers you’ve probably never heard of.

Safety as a marketing concept for cars? Well, Richard Heseltine reckons we have Ralph Nader to thank for that. This month Richard examines a concept vehicle that was a direct result of the sudden interest in vehicle safety after Nader’s campaigning…